Random Movie Talk XIII: In Which I Cannot Come Up With a Relevant or Witty Title

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Sorry, for some reason I thought you listed the ones you LIKED earlier.

So you're with Jeff Wells in calling Fight Club bad? I think it's brilliantly shot.

Also, I'll begrudgingly give these guys credit for acknowledging Claudio Miranda's work on Button, Ballhaus on Gangs, Savides on Zodiac, Richardson on Snow Falling On Cedars, and a couple others.

It's really the Top 10 that bugs me. Deakins' work on Jesse James was Top 3, at least. Though I can take solace that he received the most mentions (4) of anyone on the list, tied with the nearly-as-deserving Bob Richardson.
 
I'm not quite as negative as Wells regarding that one, at least in terms of the cinematography... but yeah, it doesn't do it for me at all. I too was glad to see Richardson get a lot of attention. His work is always extremely sharp and very classy.

I'm disappointed with a lot of the selections they made from particular DPs. Like, of all Dion Beebe's great work, they go with Memoirs of a Geisha? The fuck? Collateral is easily one of the most visually evocative films ever made. And speaking of Mann, where's Lubezki's work on Ali? For Prieto they choose Babel and Brokeback over 25th hour or Lust, Caution? Meh. What else... In The Mood For Love is an obvious pick for both Doyle and Bing Lee, but they go with Hero over any of the other far more brilliant work he's done in the past 10 years? And Speaking of Bing Lee, what about any of his work with Hou Hsiao-Hsien?

Some of the picks are just mindboggling, like Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge, Passion of the Christ, Sky Captain, The Pianist, Sin City and quite a few others.

Like I said, the complete lack of Agnes Godard is some kind of travesty. Would have also really liked to see something like Bobby Muller's daring work on Dancer in the Dark, or Benoît Debie and Gaspar Noé for Irreversible. Hell, maybe even Soderbergh/Peter Andrews for Solaris or Che or something, yes?

edit: Oh also, great call though from them with Eyes Wide Shut. :up: Some of the most mesmerizing steady-cam work ever put to film.
 
at least the list includes films that people have seen or at least heard of

what Agnes Godard film do you think was over looked?
 
Would have also really liked to see something like Bobby Muller's daring work on Dancer in the Dark, or Benoît Debie and Gaspar Noé for Irreversible. Hell, maybe even Soderbergh/Peter Andrews for Solaris or Che or something, yes?

edit: Oh also, great call though from them with Eyes Wide Shut. :up: Some of the most mesmerizing steady-cam work ever put to film.

Yeah, I was thinking about Soderbergh and thought maybe they frowned on directors doing their own photography, but then they included Robert Rodriguez.

Eyes Wide Shut was nice to see on there, but that one should have been Top 10. But I'm wondering if Larry Smith (a.k.a. "Lighting Cameraman" in the credits) actually had more input than Kubrick himself on that one.
 
I checked her (Godard) films and did not recall seeing any of them, I have seen most everything else on that list

of her films, I might try the Berri film, Ensemble, c'est tout (2007)
... aka "Hunting and Gathering"

only because I hold Jean de Florrette and Manon, in such high regard.
 
I've never seen any Berri films, but I remember those two from the video store I worked at back in the day. They are part I and II of a long story, correct? There was also another long film called Germinal by him which I never saw either.
 
I saw it, them, in the 80s. they are stand alone films, but work great together, like The Godfather and Godfather 2.

It was a long time ago, blew me away then. Can't say I would have the same reaction now. It is about missed opportunities. Regret, too late.
Manon, does have a 23 year old Emmanuelle Béart, dancing naked playing the pan flute for a herd of goats.
http://www.moviesnxs.com/web/thumbnails/tn-LC_EmmanuelleBeart_ManonDesSources.jpg


I did see Germinal, liked it, did not love it.


looking at Godard's work with Claire Denis, 35 Shots of Rum, sounds interesting.
 
Yeah, I was thinking about Soderbergh and thought maybe they frowned on directors doing their own photography, but then they included Robert Rodriguez.

Eyes Wide Shut was nice to see on there, but that one should have been Top 10. But I'm wondering if Larry Smith (a.k.a. "Lighting Cameraman" in the credits) actually had more input than Kubrick himself on that one.

That's a good question regarding Eyes Wide Shut. Of the ones on the list, yeah, definitely one of the 10 best though.

Another one of the greats:

YouTube - Clip: Boarding Gate (High Quality re-up)

Yorick Le Saux was DP on the new Tilda film out now "I Am Love". Mixed reactions to the film, but it looks gorgeous.
 
looking at Godard's work with Claire Denis, 35 Shots of Rum, sounds interesting.

One of my 10 or 15 favorite films of the decade. A sort of homage to Ozu's Late Spring, but still very much Denis' own creation.
 
I would say the most bizarre inclusion is Sin City, because the vast majority of it is computer generated, even the lighting to some degree.
 
I would say the most bizarre inclusion is Sin City, because the vast majority of it is computer generated, even the lighting to some degree.

From what I understand the same could be said (to a lesser degree though surely) of Zodiac and Ben Button.
 
Manon, does have a 23 year old Emmanuelle Béart, dancing naked playing the pan flute for a herd of goats.

Normally that would be an instant SOLD!, but I already have Jacques Rivette's La Belle Noiseuse, which is a four hour film about Beart being painted in the nude. I could probably draw her from mammary memory at this point. Great film, BTW.


looking at Godard's work with Claire Denis, 35 Shots of Rum, sounds interesting.

One of my 10 or 15 favorite films of the decade. A sort of homage to Ozu's Late Spring, but still very much Denis' own creation.

I enjoyed the film, but found it a tad overrated. The best foreign language film I saw last year was Hirozaku Kore-ada's Still Walking, which is in its own way very reminiscent of Ozu.


I've been meaning to see that. Love Assayas and Argento.

I would say the most bizarre inclusion is Sin City, because the vast majority of it is computer generated, even the lighting to some degree.

From what I understand the same could be said (to a lesser degree though surely) of Zodiac and Ben Button.

And we could also bring up the digital coloring of O Brother, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Aviator, etc. A lot of films that aren't really "pure" photography anymore.
 
Normally that would be an instant SOLD!, but I already have Jacques Rivette's La Belle Noiseuse, which is a four hour film about Beart being painted in the nude. I could probably draw her from mammary memory at this point. Great film, BTW.

.

I drove up the 3rd St Promenade with a couple of buddies and paid the admission to watch that on the big screen. One friend enjoyed it as much as you and me. The other like many bitched that nothing happened over 4 hours. It's been awhile, I think the point was a statement about art or artists.

Florrette and Manon have a lot more going on. The dance scene is a very small part. To me this may be Gérard Depardieu's best film, the reason he deserves all the praise he gets. He is not in part 2. Also, these films rate very high on the sites that rate films. (see lifted lay person's review below, not any real spoilers)

How can one be the witness to this much acting, such a strong storyline about greed (which makes us appreciate human qualities - all the more), and not be touched/moved by this ?

Combined with part II (which really is not optional - considering it's dramatic revelation) - it makes for superbe movie-going experience that is barely 1 notch short of GodFather quality, as far as drama goes. Character development is excellent, pretty much all of it is plausible, nothing really grates, except to see a good man suffer.

Jean is good, an erudite - but he cannot understand nor smell a conspiracy - as this makes no real sense to someone with his principles. And when is all said and done - what matters most once you are heading to the pearly gates (should you be so lucky) the amount of wealth you've amassed or how you lived ? How do you hope to be remembered ?

As cunning and sly as Soubeyrand is - I guess he never figured it out....

A cruel, stunning classic, with impeccable french nuances. A must-see.
 
That's a good question regarding Eyes Wide Shut. Of the ones on the list, yeah, definitely one of the 10 best though.

Another one of the greats:

YouTube - Clip: Boarding Gate (High Quality re-up)

Yorick Le Saux was DP on the new Tilda film out now "I Am Love". Mixed reactions to the film, but it looks gorgeous.


Asia A is always a joy to watch. and the scene does look great.

But when the film is rated below average, overall, just not a good film,
is it practical to include it on any best list?




I may see "I am love" this weekend, not much more out there to see.
Yes, I would - Till da Swinton.
 

I just happened to stumble onto a review of this that was little short of a flat-out rave (from the Playlist... so taken with a handful of salt), but still. Not something that would normally catch my eye, but they were throwing out comparisons to Malick, Tarkovsky, John Carpenter and others. Also get a bit of a Herzog vibe from the trailer. Yeah, I'll check it out. :up:
 

Yeah well... The Playlist. They're practically Aint it Cool for the art-house sect, so I don't usually expect them to make much sense. But yeah... heh

"Utilizing a bold artistic palatte that evokes cinema titans like Kubrick, Lynch, and Tarkovsky, his latest — a spiritual and stark Viking drama with dollops of some physical brutality as needed — is a haunting, meditative and slow-burning masterpiece that gives us the horror movie Terrence Malick has yet to make. The fierce and droning picture stars Mads Mikkelsen as a one-eyed mute Viking warrior who travels with a pack of crusading Christians on a holy land pilgrimage that hellishly descends to a nightmarish spiral into madness. "

"Our review of the film from TIFF 2009 called the film akin to Terrence Malick making a silent horror movie or the great Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky making a lovechild descent into madness B-movie with early John Carpenter and that's gloriously on the mark as the film is savage, fierce, eerie and unsettling."

They're also huuuuuge fans of Bronson, which I didn't especially care for. So we'll see. I kind of want to see what the fuss is all about now though. Plus, you never know.
 
Fuck it, I'm just gonna come right out and say it: Predators looks pretty cool.
 
Thats one of the all time classic internet videos. I've watched that more times than i care to admit. Its fun to occasionally drop a "mmmMMMWAAHAAAA the french" in everyday conversation
 
Seriously. I don't know how it eluded me for so long. And, yes, I already started doing that. At the bar last night I was switching back and forth between yelling "LEBRON!" and "MWAAAAAAAAAAAh the French champagne!!!" at the top of my lungs.

And then that video led me to watch a bunch of other (sober) Orson Welles interview clips. The man is incredible to watch. Such a presence he had. Such a bad ass.
 
Was there a Mrs Paul's frozen fish sticks parody from The Critic as well? I was randomly thinking of that the other day and couldn't remember what show it was from!
 
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